First of all, you won't know how bad dubbing is until you watch a John Wayne movie where the Indians speak French......and they're not Iroquois or Mohicans.

Thank you Prutser and Beemster for all your comments, pictures, posts, positive attitude, and general warm fuzzy feeling EVERYBODY got when they read your stuff. The airhead is THE machine we all wished we could have, handle, and ride.

Rod, if you post-mortem, it will create a time/continuum warp that we cannot recover from. YOU MUST CONTINUE TO POST IN REAL TIME, THE FUTURE OF EARTH DEPENDS ON IT !!!

Mr. Colebatch, amazing casting job. Take a bow and soak up the applause.

Can't help but notice the F800GS in the group, not a bike Walter would recommend for the BAM is it? Curious to see how it did if indeed it was taken along the BAM and Road of Bones.

Loving the trip report and I second the notion that Rod continues his story of the trip across Russia in this RR.

I dont want to spoil the story too much ... you will need to wait and read

No, its not a bike I would recommend for sustained off road travel ... especially on the BAM Road or Road of Bones. But I will say the guy on the F800 sold it and bought an XChallenge as soon as he finished his riding in Siberia - however far he got - again you will need to be patient and read on to find out those details.

We broke camp outside Alzamay in the morning on the 26th of July, and headed south. I was quite excited to finally meet Walter and Terry. I crossed my fingers and hoped that they would let us tag along towards Magadan.

There were some dirt roads and after a while you end up looking like this

Todays stretch was just over 600 k's. Lots of photo opportunities on the way.

Just like home, most of the livestock roam free in the summer. Getting some fat on the bones and insulation for the harsh long Siberian winter. Sort of like me

Most of the time they just stand still and look at you with their big empty eyes On the side of the road or in the middle. They don't move. You should though exercise caution when passing. Some will decide to cross ahead of you. If you hit one at speed you will loose

In the evening we got into Irkutsk. Rod had given us the coordinates to Nina's Homestay, but we had some problems finding the place. It is situated in a residential area with lots of houses and no signs outside. We ended up doing some sight seeing in the local neighborhood. Still, every time Mr. Zumo led us to the same place. It was a big house with a gate and thats it. We stopped the engines and started to discuss where the place could be when suddenly the gate opened. Out stepped a handsome young guy with a big smile: "You the Norwegians?" We'd just met tee bee

I'm really struggling with this year's ride report. I want to love it, but I can't (well, not as much). You've already done the ride, you're all home safe, and there are NO pictures of scantily clad women !!!!!!!!!!

I understand the epicness of the journey, but to be drip fed the story when we know there's a happy ending and your all home safe, doesn't quite "feel right" ??

On your last trip Walter, when you were writing it as you were doing it (I assume), I felt as though I was there with you, willing you on, wondering what was going to happen next

Please don't take this post the wrong way, as it's not meant to offend, it's just an observation.

And guys, there's no need to start having a go at me and making a big thing of this observation, as it will only take away from the story. Stands by for incoming !!!!!!!!!

We got the bikes inside the fence at Nina's and parked them in the backyard together with the other overlanders

The good thing when staying at Nina's is that you have secure parking. The gates are locked at night and she lets out a dog in the yard. We didn't see this dog, but we'd heard rumors about it. It is supposed to make a Great Dane look small

A while before we arrived another guest at Nina's was out a bit late. When he came back he forgot to ring the bell at the gate. He just entered through the side door and into the yard. Bad mistake I don't have all the details of the aftermath but it is confirmed that needle's and thread's were involved...

Nina's daughter came down and greeted us. She speaks good english and helped us get installed. Jacob bunked up with tee bee. Erik and Steve got a room and I was given a third room. As I got my kit into the room I saw that someone else also lived there. By the look of the gear it looked like my new roommate was Mr. Colebatch

I took a look around inside the guesthouse and noticed an old piano. Cool. I tried a few notes and realized it was pretty much out of tune. Ohhh well...

After a little while all the guys had done their hair up and we decided head out for some food. As mentioned before in this thread, Nina's is right at the centre of the town. It was just a short walk to the main square. We walked around a bit looking at the sights. Chatting with tee bee and getting to know him, and he us. We found a nice little restaurant and got some chow down our necks. After some food we headed to a bar. I can't quite remember the name of the place, but I do remember that the scenery was nice

After we came back to the Homestay some new guests had arrived. Among them a french piano tuner doing the Trans Siberian Rail Road from Moscow to Vladivostok. He went straight to work What are the odds???

I'm not sure that serendipity begins to cover the serendipitous aspects of this journey. First, in the middle of nowhere Rod runs into the Viking horde who were thrown off their route by Russky mafiosi and had given up getting to Magadan, who are heading to Irkutsk thinking they will NOT run into Walter and Terry...but discover they will....and suddenly Magadan is resurrected, then EtronX knows how to play the piano at Nina's but can't because it's way out of tune but no worries because the railroad magically deposits a French piano tuner into Nina's parlor! Amazin'.....you guys are on a roll...can't wait to see what happens next!

I'm not sure that serendipity begins to cover the serendipitous aspects of this journey. First, in the middle of nowhere Rod runs into the Viking horde who were thrown off their route by Russky mafiosi and had given up getting to Magadan, who are heading to Irkutsk thinking they will NOT run into Walter and Terry...but discover they will....and suddenly Magadan is resurrected, then EtronX knows how to play the piano at Nina's but can't because it's way out of tune but no worries because the railroad magically deposits a French piano tuner into Nina's parlor! Amazin'.....you guys are on a roll...can't wait to see what happens next!

The fun part is that we'll meet our little French friend again By another piano...

We got the bikes inside the fence at Nina's and parked them in the backyard together with the other overlanders

That was definitely a very wise move to swap the F800 for this handy pink offroader . In any case THE PINK OFFROADER HAS WAY BETTER KNOBBIES THAN ANY BIKE OF THE NORWAY DELEGATON
Trailwinger F800 with metal cases on the BAM ?? This triggers immediately in my mind Rick, who started the trip with Terry and Cole and had to quit after a few dozen miles struggling offroad.... But Vikings are super duper tough...letīs wait and see...

Franck B screwed with this post 01-19-2013 at 08:45 AM
Reason: wrong name

That was definitely a very wise move to swap the F800 for this handy pink offroader . In any case THE PINK OFFROADER HAS WAY BETTER KNOBBIES THAN ANY BIKE OF THE NORWAY DELEGATON
Trailwinger F800 with metal cases on the BAM ?? This triggers immediately in my mind Rick, who started the trip with Terry and Cole and had to quit after a few dozen miles struggling offroad.... But Vikings are super duper tough...letīs wait and see...

I beg you a pardon sir..... but a few years ago Colebatch and Teebee ride the BAM with TonyP who also had metal boxes on his stock Dakar, add to that a very beautifull age and he managed to finish the trip .
You know the strength does not always stay in a phisical shape but more in an indomitable will.
Don't get me wrong i'm not an adept of metal boxes in fact i think i am exactly oposite but i also belive that the rider is much much more important than the mount.

In some other way i must admit that i'm an 800 owner so i'm also interested in how it performed the task even if i know from the begining that is not the right bike for the task.

Astonishing rr keep it going guys.

__________________Adventure is not a cable channel.Freedom from the prison of pavement.
The beaten path is for beaten people.Pain is momentary.
Giving up is forever.Rest when you're dead.WINDRIDER

Second clutch cable is there in case I break the first clutch cable :)

I put it in place for two reasons ... (1) it means I dont have to store it in my luggage ... which takes up space and adds weight to the back, and (2) because then installing it is a 2 minute job instead of having to wait till the engine and exhaust cool down enough to thread it through on the road ... 20 - 30 minute job.

Put it this way ... its impossible to steal it when its in place ... and there is no other possible use for it ... therefore, pre-install it.

Montana is the future. Its 5 times better than any Zumo

Im going to upgrade my GPS from a GPSMAP76CSx and was thinking ZUMO until I read what you said about the montana. Would you mind telling me why the Montana is so much better? Any chance you know if it would have the same power wire as a GPSMAP76CSx?

I flew out of Moscow about midday, but because its a 5.5 hour flight, plus there is a 5 hour time difference, it was almost midnight when I arrived in Irkutsk. All flight I was thinking ... maybe I should see if these guys want to come along with Terry and me to Magadan. I dont know what their riding pace is like. But it might be useful to have more guys to help pull out bikes from bogs or doomed river crossings. I needed to have a chat to Terry and see what he thought.

Once in Irkutsk, I waited for my bags, jumped in cab at the airport and made my way to Nina's place, arriving at something like 00:40 in the morning. I snuck quietly into my usual room at Nina's and into my usual bed ... then I hear a voice from the other side of the room yell out.

"So you must be Walter."

Turns out I was bunking with Geir that night. I had finally met the huge Norwegian.

We spoke until about 2am ... mainly about the idea of the three Norwegians joining us on the BAM and ROB. Geir personally was totally up for it, but he needed to talk to his two riding buddies, Steve and Erik, and I needed to talk with Terry.

We would do that first thing in the morning, before I headed out to pick up my bike from the workshop.